New cameras, new walls & more than 70 new beds
KITTITAS COUNTY, Wash. -- County jails compete for inmates. It's a way to make money, but there are far more beds than inmates. The Kittitas County jail expansion will finish in less than two months.
New cameras, new walls and more than 70 new beds.
"Running a jail at over 100% capacity is never a good thing," said Kittitas County Undersheriff, Clayton Myers. "We've been running it over 100% for years."
Right now a quarter of a million dollars are being shipped outside of the county to house the overflow of prisoners. When construction finishes at the Kittitas County jail, that of course, will stop.
The county won't have enough prisoners to fill every bed. And, doesn't want to. It will enter the business of selling beds and compete with other jails like those in Yakima County.
"It's an incredibly competitive market and it's not one that I would want to be sitting in the place of building a new facility and trying to find bed rentals," said Yakima County Jail Director, Ed Campbell.
More than 1,300 beds in Washington state jails are empty. Each county competes for contracts. Yakima lost a contract with King County in 2010 and lost 9 million dollars.
We asked, "How will you plan to compete with other counties to fill your beds?"
"We're not trying to compete with the other counties," said Myers. "We're not looking at this like a business. One of the challenges our neighboring counties have is their budget becomes tied to contracting beds. We're not doing that."
Kittitas County Undersheriff Clayton Myers says the county budgeted so it won't need to rely on contracts. He says empty beds will actually help sustain the county's growth for the next 40 years.
The Yakima County Jail can hold a total of 850 inmates. Kittitas County will hold less than 150 after the expansion.
New cameras, new walls and more than 70 new beds.
"Running a jail at over 100% capacity is never a good thing," said Kittitas County Undersheriff, Clayton Myers. "We've been running it over 100% for years."
Right now a quarter of a million dollars are being shipped outside of the county to house the overflow of prisoners. When construction finishes at the Kittitas County jail, that of course, will stop.
The county won't have enough prisoners to fill every bed. And, doesn't want to. It will enter the business of selling beds and compete with other jails like those in Yakima County.
"It's an incredibly competitive market and it's not one that I would want to be sitting in the place of building a new facility and trying to find bed rentals," said Yakima County Jail Director, Ed Campbell.
More than 1,300 beds in Washington state jails are empty. Each county competes for contracts. Yakima lost a contract with King County in 2010 and lost 9 million dollars.
We asked, "How will you plan to compete with other counties to fill your beds?"
"We're not trying to compete with the other counties," said Myers. "We're not looking at this like a business. One of the challenges our neighboring counties have is their budget becomes tied to contracting beds. We're not doing that."
Kittitas County Undersheriff Clayton Myers says the county budgeted so it won't need to rely on contracts. He says empty beds will actually help sustain the county's growth for the next 40 years.
The Yakima County Jail can hold a total of 850 inmates. Kittitas County will hold less than 150 after the expansion.
